Research summary
Canada is facing a housing crisis: prices have been skyrocketing for decades, rents are increasingly unaffordable, and overcrowding and homelessness are on the rise. Detailed data on the housing needs of vulnerable households could help cities create more targeted affordability policies, but these data currently do not exist.
As Canada Research Chair in Data Innovation for Housing and Inclusive Urbanization, Dr. Julia Harten is trying to fill this gap. Drawing on web-scraped online rental listings, anonymized utility data, and community-engaged fieldwork, she and her research team are generating new data that will help researchers study rental housing in urban Canada more comprehensively. They aim to focus more attention on the changing housing outcomes and needs of Canada’s low-income earners and other socially marginalized groups. Their work will be relevant to cities around the world that are struggling with affordable housing supply.